I don’t know about you, but I find it to be somewhat funny that while a lot of gamers have been busy playing games such as “Super Mario Odyssey” (Switch), “Doom” (switch), “Call Of Duty: WWII” (multi-format), I still choice to play “Brutal Doom” over those said games (here’s our video review of the BD21 beta!).

Yes, there are of course fatalities to be found in the latest edition of “Brutal Doom”. I mean, it wouldn’t be “Brutal Doom” without brutal fatalities.

“And why is that?” So you might wonder, it’s because that’s just how I work. You see, I simply felt like it was time for me to return to the world of “Brutal Doom” again, especially since Sergeant_Mark_IV launched the “Brutal Doom” v21 beta less than two weeks ago. So from then to now I have played through “Doom 1” and half of “Doom 2”, and right off the bat I have to say that “Brutal Doom” has never been as good as it is at present. In the matter of fact, the beta of BD21 is with no doubt THE best version of the old-school “Doom” games (in my opinion).

You don’t have to add in hand grenades to the game anymore, because they are there from the very start of the “Brutal Doom” v21 beta.

Furthermore, BD21 blows most of today’s FPS games out of the water. I mean, it’s been ages since I had this much fun with an FPS game, and BD21 really does have everything and more (and this comes from a guy that have played most of the previous “Brutal Doom” installations). Yes, you better believe it, because I’m not exaggerating, not even one little bit. Right off the bat, the BD21 beta runs MUCH better and smoother than any of the previous BD installations. Hell, I actually experienced ZERO lag while playing the mod for hours, and I haven’t updated my computer for almost three years time now.

There are plenty of new weapons to be found in BD21, weapons such as the M60, a Uzi like gun, an axe and a Jackhammer shotgun.

In other words, Sergeant_Mark_IV has optimized “Brutal Doom” a whole lot in the latest edition of the mod. That’s just the half of it though, because there are tons of different game mods, options and difficulties for you to enjoy in the beta of BD21 as well. So I think it’s safe to say that there should be something for everyone to enjoy in BD21. I would also like to point out that I played the vanilla version of BD21. So that means that I didn’t add any other stuff to the mod. Worry not though, because you could easily add new stuff on top of BD21 if you feel like it.

Do you remember when Lo Wang used two Uzi’s at the same time like a boss in the original “Shadow Warrior” game? Well, Doomguy can do that as well now.

I would advise you to keep track of what works with what though, since “Brutal Doom” could become very unstable with certain addons and whatnot installed. On a personal level though, I never really felt like I needed to add anything to the beta of BD21, because the mod is already full of awesome stuff to enjoy from the very start, and that includes everything from playable vehicles (you can even use a full-size Mecha robot!), new weapons, new ways to kill your enemies to the ability to dual weld Uzi’s, machine guns and whatnot.

You can play around with four different vehicles in the v21 beta of “Brutal Doom”, and those vehicles would be a heavily armed helicopter, a light machine gun tank, a heavy tank and a full-blown mecha robot (think “Mech Warrior”, and you’re on the right track).

You can even use hand grenades from the very first stage of BD21 (“Doom 1”), and that was something which you had to add in by yourself in the pas for the previous editions of BD. So that alone was a very pleasant surprise for me, because I love to do the “Quake 1” grenade launcher trick against walls and whatnot. Other than that, I think that the visuals and sound quality have been improved in the beta of BD21. So when I played on the highest resolution with optimized graphic settings, BD21 really rocked my computer like a boss.

There is an HUGE difference to be seen between “Brutal Doom” v20 and “Brutal Doom” v21 beta.

So, all in all I have to say that I had a real blast with the “Brutal Doom” v21 beta. So much so that I lost track of time while playing the mod (at one game session, I realized that it was already 3:00 in the morning!). That’s also why I have decided to give BD21 a 5/5 grade, because an FPS game doesn’t get much better and more fun than this. So do yourself a favor and download the BD21 beta as soon as possible!

Pros:
+ The game is much more stable than Brutal Doom v20b
+ Brutal Doom v21 runs a lot smother than any of the previous installations
+ There are even more awesome guns to play with
+ Dual welding guns, such as Uzi’s and handguns. So you could basically become the Max Payne version of the Doom guy if you feel like it
+ There are new and brutal ways for you to kill your enemies, and your foes got new death animations as well
+ You will have so much fun with Brutal Doom v21 that you will lose track of time.
+ You can download, customize and add tons of stuff to the mod
+ Hand grenades! Yes, you can now use hand grenades without having to add that into the game by yourself
+ There’s a handful of different vehicles at your disposal
+ Tons of different game mods, options and difficulty settings

Cons:– Some of the enemies A.i is really, REALLY stupid. So much so that you “almost” feel a bit sorry to kill them off.
– There are some bugs to be found in the mod. However, none of them will make the game crash
– There’s no new music to be found in the latest update of Brutal Doom, at least not to my knowledge

Verdict: 5/5
Nevertheless, all in all, there are very little things for me to complain about when it comes to the latest edition of Brutal Dom. You see, in my opinion. It’s THE best version of Brutal Doom to date. In the matter of fact, it’s the best version of the old-school Doom. In other words, it’s a must play for everyone who loves “Doom” and FPS games in general.